Archive for the ‘Hobbit Movie FAQ’ Category

We finally know Billy Boyd (Pippin from The Lord of the Rings trilogy) will be performing the end credits song for the final film set in Peter Jackson’s cinematic Middle-earth. Warner Bros. have posted their ‘For Your Consideration’ list for “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” listing all the people and categories they want Hollywood to pay attention to come Awards Season. On that list for ‘Best Original Song’ is “The Last Goodbye” written by Billy Boyd, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, and performed by Billy Boyd. It now seems that the use of Pippin’s song “The Edge of Night” in the recently released teaser for the film was a bit of foreshadowing. That song, with the lyrics coming from the last stanza of Tolkien’s ‘A Walking Song’ and the melody written by Billy Boyd himself, demonstrates a great level of empathy on the part of Billy for the melancholic feeling at that point of “The Return of the King”. It seems almost too perfect that Billy should be called upon again to deliver what promises to be a very emotional and fitting ending to all things Middle-earth. And because it’s fun to speculate, you will notice 15 other categories listed ‘For Your Consideration’ on that list, many names familiar to us all. Who do you think might get a nomination this Awards Season?

When TORn’s new book, Middle-earth Madness, came out last month for Kindle and Nook, some fans were delighted, like Elizabeth Trogden who gives the books five stars at Amazon saying, “Just as the movies led me to the books, TheOneRing.net informed me of the many fans and their activities. This book wonderfully complements all of them.”

But there were others lit up Facebook and message boards with a clear request: “We want a printed version!” As Ithilwen commented, “I hope for printed version as well, it just seems way more fitting to read about Middle-earth from a paper book. Or maybe I’m just a bit old fashioned.”

Well, here it is. Real pages packed with hobbity goodness for you to hold in your hand and set on the shelf with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies the book is all about. It’s a little piece of TORn you can keep as a collector’s item and look back on as the years go by.

– Which creature design in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey the filmmakers weren’t satisfied with and secretly changed for the extended edition DVD
– Which Hobbit movie includes an item with J.R.R. Tolkien’s name written on it
– Which item Bilbo takes from Beorn’s house and takes home
– How Peter Jackson could make an adaptation of The Silmarillion without obtaining the rights from the Tolkien Estate
– and lots more, including interviews with Richard Armitage (Thorin), Sylvester McCoy (Radagast), Richard Taylor (Weta Workshop), Mark Ordesky (LOTR Exec) and many more of your favorites.

Want to read a sample chapter and see what all the fuss is about? Here you go!

Update: thanks to DanielLB on our discussion boards for pointing out that the book is also available on some Amazon sites for countries other than the U.S. (amazon.uk, amazon.fr). So check out your country’s site in case you can save on some shipping.

Nerd HQ hosted a Q&A with Evangeline Lilly, where she talks about Lost, her new book – The Squickerwonkers, what’s on her bucket list, her humanitarian work and of course her character, Tauriel from The Hobbit.

You might want to fast forward to the 2:43 minute point when the Q&A actually begins.

Evangeline also talks about the new interactive version of Squickerwonkers that’s coming out, and about working with a Kiwi composer on it and having Sylvester McCoy narrate the story. “It contains animated elements, little easter eggs and things kids can touch and they come to life.”

She discusses her approach to Tauriel saying that she was super proud that she wasn’t just there as a kick-ass woman who can slay and kill. “Look what I can do is, I can protect, I can have compassion and I can care and be gentle and not be like “Urgh!”, but be feminine and graceful while slaughtering orcs.”

This is a word-for-word transcription of a press conference held for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” in a hotel in Los Angeles after the World Premiere of the film. Seated were: Philippa Boyens, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Peter Jackson, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Aidan Turner and Dean O’Gorman.

Press were given microphones by moderators. Although TheOneRing.net attended, for which we thank Warner Bros., we did not have a chance to ask a question to the assembled group; we apologize for some that did. Transcribed by Twitter staffer @Saoirse_Loachlann (more…)

Earlier today, Peter Jackson, Richard Armitage and Evangeline Lilly participated in a Google+ Hangout – answering questions from fans and debuting a new clip from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (which
you can view here). The Hobbit Movies has written up a rough transcript
of the hangout (they describe the quotes more as “summaries”, than exact quotes). (more…)

LOS ANGELES – TheOneRing.net will sit down (and stand up) with stars of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” tomorrow and since we are representing fans, it seemed only appropriate to let fans submit some questions.

Interviews will play later in the week via video but we need your questions right away, in the next 12 hours.

So, in the comment section at the end of this story, its your chance to submit a question. We will take the best one for each of the actors we interview and ask!

Please specify below which of these actors your question is for, in no particular order:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Ever wonder what you gave Luke Evans for his birthday? Few realized it, but the staff and readers of TheOneRing.net gave him a present back in April of 2011.

Evans celebrated his 32nd year with a party at Gas Works, a bar and grill just walking distance from Stone Street Studios, the movie lot where Peter Jackson makes movies, including the forthcoming “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”

In the mess tent of that set, on the white refrigerator that holds cream and milk and sundry items, near the always playing iPod, there hung a solicitation for all eyes to see: An open invitation from Luke Evans to celebrate his birthday on a Saturday night. (Regrettably I didn’t take a photo of the fridge.) The invitation was right there in perhaps the most trafficked spot on the lot, available for all, specified for none.

Are on-set reporters invited to cast and crew events? Advised by somebody from costume that it was absolutely okay (Jasmine I think, a real favorite), I decided to go only if could find a suitable gift from all of us, readers and staff of TORn. What would you buy an actor on behalf of the largest online Tolkien community? What does a guy making a living acting in New Zealand and away from home really want or need anyway? (more…)

(The outdoor Lake-Town wet set with extras and crew assembled for a night shoot on “The Hobbit.”)

WELLINGTON — The great cities of history have risen up around rivers, lakes and on coasts. Water holds vast and replenishing stores of food, improves transportation of people and goods, encourages trade, and of course keeps a population hydrated. Paris. London. Hong Kong. New York. Tokyo. Moscow. Boston. On and on.

Lake-town benefitted from excellent transportation and presumably a wealth of fish and food and clean, fresh water but it was built on water for a different reason.

Dragons.

One dragon in particular: Smaug The Terrible.

Tolkien’s Lake-town, like real-world Venice, was built on wooden pillars sunk into water. The lake men — with the destruction of Dale seared forever into their memory — built on water for safety. We watched it in the prolog of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” while they had to live with the fear of dragon every day. Water-based living provided at least a chance against the great and terrible worm if he ever attacked again.

Survival was the challenge for the city builders in Middle-earth but for Peter Jackson’s film version of Lake-town, dragon-sized demands included creating visuals to sell a water-based town to the audience and to provide a playground to let actors fully realize characters and moments. (more…)

Long-time friend of TheOneRing.net, Sohaib Awan, has kicked off a new Fictional Frontiers podcast and invited our own MrCere to talk all things Hobbit. Long a radio program, Fictional Frontiers, with Shotglass Digital, is reaching a new audience with a new format that allows for a longer, more in-depth discussion. Awan has championed “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” and loves both the realms of Tolkien and the work of Peter Jackson. He has used MrCere (Larry D. Curtis) as a frequent guest and in this episode they discuss both the upcoming second installment of the film and the success of the first and Curtis talks big picture about his time in New Zealand. The podcast can be found right here! Awan says MrCere will return in future episodes to talk more Hobbit.

EDITOR’S NOTE:This is the first of many set visit reports that will publish weekly from now until the premiere of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” We will update this post with photos from the set visit as soon as possible.

Ian McKellen as Gandalf.

WELLINGTON — Thousands of creative hands will have touched “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” by the time it hits movie screens. For those making the film it means long hours, pushing the limits of creativity, people and technology. It is accurate to say every frame is filled with passion, lots of passion.

Despite all the love for the project from every quarter, there is a group that may be the least-heralded, most overlooked, and yet whose passion for the project is surpassed by no man — or woman. They will receive no awards, no fame, no recognition and yet, they loved their work on “The Hobbit,” and legions of fans would have willingly taken their place in a heartbeat.

They are called “extras,” and for these films that meant extra passion, extra time and extra fun.

How would I know? Well, I was one of them!

I am a staffer here at TheOneRing.net (TORn), contributing for over a decade to the all-volunteer, not-for profit website forged by and for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. In that time I formed a bond of trust and friendship with people on all sides of the production.

Warners Bros. and the production team on “The Hobbit,” invited me, as a representative of TORn, to not only visit the set but to be embedded there as a journalist for five weeks. Every working day for a month and a week in 2012, I woke up and reported to set near Wellington, New Zealand where Peter Jackson and his team of filmmakers were putting together the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved children’s book, “The Hobbit.”

I can hardly believe this happened even though I remember it with incredible clarity. It seems surreal now — as it did every day when I arrived, showed my badge to security and walked into the grounds where Middle-earth would be created for audiences world wide. Each day was appreciated.

SALT LAKE CITY — Once scheduled for a smaller venue in the suburbs, the first ever Salt Lake Comic Con filled Utah’s capital city’s largest convention venue and had it bursting at the seams Saturday. For a time the hundreds waiting outside were not allowed to enter except at a 1-out-1-in rate. Word on the dealer’s floor said it was because the fire marshal closed the space but that rumor was never confirmed.

Reports in the media called the event “record setting” for a first-year convention, and that is possibly true, but such stats aren’t readily available. In any case, it was a massive event with celebrities that included William Kircher (Bifur) and Manu Bennett (Azog) and other pop-culture icons like William Shatner and Adam West.

Azog at Weta booth, Salt Lake Comic Con 2013

TheOneRing.net was part of the fun as well, with staffer (and this writer) Larry D. Curtis (MrCere) attending with the show in his (my) hometown. the SLComic Con invited TORn to present a panel about Smaug and serve on other panels as well, with topics including Fantasy Films, all things Tolkien, Geek Culture and film school.

Bennett and Kircher were kind enough to drop by TheOneRing panel that also included author and TORn friend Paul Genesse. He helped moderate the panel and showed incredible enthusiasm for the material.

TheOneRing also managed a booth on the at time very crowded floor supported by incredible friends at Badali Jewelry and Weta Workshop making its first U.S. appearance outside of the San Diego Comic Con. TORn helped back in a small way to staff the Weta booth and send those with questions about where to purchase The One Ring to Badali’s very nearby booth. Artist David Powell was also kind enough to sign posters of his art for fans.

The Salt Palace Convention Center can be expanded and the SLCC will return next year. TheOneRing.net hopes to be part of the show. Thanks to Dan McBride and Blonde Ninja for their support of the TORn booth. Thanks also to the many financial supports at the event and to Salt Lake Comic Con for letting us be a part of the show. If you attended and would like TORn to return, you can use the contact info here to let them know.

If anybody has images of Bennett and Kircher attending the TORn panel, please send them in! We were busy having a panel and didn’t get any photos.

Evangeline Lilly has begun an ongoing series of twitter chats with fans about Tauriel. Here are some of her interesting responses to today’s #TaurielTrivia. TORn Staffers Justin and Demosthenes add their observations to her answers to fans’ questions.

Pre-emptive warning: there is a little bit of spoiler discussion. (more…)

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